Things Just took a MAJOR Turn…

Things Just took a MAJOR Turn…

Things just took a shocking turn for the New York Knicks as their free agency is heating up with one contract left for the Knicks to sign. They are now trying to be robbed by a former Knicks executive. And also on top of that, the Knicks have a very tough free agency decision that they are still making. And we’re going to break it all down. What’s up, guys? Welcome back to Nick’s Digest. It’s Chris here. We’re going to jump right into things as always. And guys, if you’re part of that 66% that’s not subscribed to Nick’s Dodgers, make sure to subscribe for daily New York Knicks updates that you do not want to miss out on. And we got updates all offseason long. And then before you know it, it’s going to be preseason. It’s going to be training camp. And then all of a sudden, the Knicks season will be back. But right now, we still have some offseason moves for the Knicks to make. And one of them is who that final veterans minimum contract is going to be. Now, a lot of fans do like the idea of Landry Sham, myself included. I do want to see Landry Sham get resigned. But I also love the idea of air coffee. However, right now the New York Knicks have locked in on Ben Simmons to a high degree. Simmons is a very controversial player as once upon a time he looked like a future star for the Philadelphia 76ers as he was the best onball defender in basketball, was the Steels champion, looked like a future star who was doing everything except for hitting jump shots. And it didn’t matter because the Sixers had Joel Embiid who could space the floor and the team looked like a very good future or had a very good future with drafting Markeel Folultz. However, obviously that didn’t work out as well and all of a sudden they became this team dealing with a bunch of injuries and Ben Simmons randomly started to regress in 2021. Something he has never bounced back from despite the fact that he has bounced around a little bit since then playing for the Brooklyn Nets as part of the James Harden trade and then playing for the Los Angeles Clippers funny enough alongside James Harden after he was bought out by Brooklyn. Now, the Knicks are looking to be Ben Simmons’s next stop and well, they do have some competition for him. Now, this is not the most surprising thing in the world. The teams are still looking at Ben Simmons because in theory, he’s a player who should help you win games because of the elite defense, because of the playmaking, because of the size of being a true the size that he is and also being a true point guard is very rare. And there’s been a lot of interest around the NBA. And that’s been reported multiple times now. It was revealed by Jake Fischer that the two teams that we can report on that have ongoing interest in Ben Simmons are Sacramento and New York. That’s the last word we got leaving Las Vegas. And on top of that, Jake Fischer also mentioned that. So, generally speaking, the Sacramento Kings are still a player in the veteran guard market. And you could absolutely put Ben Simmons in that conversation. Even though he’s obviously more of a hybrid player than a Malcolm Brogden, then Russell Westbrook, then Chris Paul, he is still viewed by most teams as a guard after all. So that’s why he was put on that list. So the Sacramento Kings, now ran by former Knicks general manager Scott Perry, are looking for another guard to add on to the team. They did add Dennis Schroeder who will be the starting point guard for them going into this season where they have a very weird roster of Dennis Schroeder, Zack Lavine, Demar De Rozan, Keegan Murray and Damontis Sabonis looking like the probable starting five for that team. Meanwhile, the Knicks, they probably would not be able to give Ben Simmons as big of a role, but what they would be able to give him is a chance to play winning basketball. Something the Kings have not really done over the last, you know, 20 years outside of one or two seasons. Now, the Knicks also funny enough to have the coach from when they made the playoffs, but that’s not the point. The Knicks projected starting lineup or projected depth chart and again Mitchell Robinson is likely going to start over Josh Hart, but I’m going to read it as it’s portrayed on the screen. Though again, I’m telling you Mitchell Robinson is the likely starter and Josh Hart’s likely coming off the bench. But the projected depth chart of Jaylen Brunson, Michaela Bridges, Josh Harden, Ojanobi, and Carl Anthony Towns as your first five. And then looking at Jordan uh Jordan Clarkson, Duce McBride, Piccom Dier, Gershan, Yabusalei, and Mitchell Robinson as the direct backups to these players is probably not the lineup we’re going to see. As I said, we’re probably going to see Mitchell Robinson in there. So adding Ben Simmons would give this team more health. The Knicks signed Yabu Sale because they knew he could play center and also the versatility of it all. So obviously you could still work it out where Yaboo is going to play like half or even more of his time still at power forward. If the Knicks do bring in Ben Simmons as well, Pakcom Dier will likely be the one who loses that backup spot. But at the same time, what we also would see in this matter is more size added to the bench. Now, the bench unit would be a little suspect on the shooting then. Jordan Clarkson’s efficiency numbers have never been great behind the arc. Duce McBride shot 37% from three last season. Um, Gerson is a very good three-point shooter. Shoots around 37% as well. for a forward that’s very impressive especially more of a big than a forward in fact because he’s not really a small forward at all. He’s he’s a big and then on top of that Josh Hart has not been the greatest three-point shooter in the world. I mean there were big men guarding him when the Knicks trotted out this starting five and it caused the starting five to really struggle because of all this. What we’re seeing is the Knicks add another non-shooter but also add more size to the team. And that’s the tough decision the Knicks are going to have to make. Do they want to add size or do they want to add shooting? If they want to add shooting, they could look towards Landry Shamat. They could also look ahead Coffee still, who I think they do have interest in, but they could look towards Landry Sham. The Knicks and Shamat do have mutual interest in a return. So, that definitely is going to be one of the solutions here as well, whether Simmons decides to ultimately not sign in New York and go to a different team. I mean, Boston is involved as well with Simmons because they really don’t have too many guys who could play center. And then on top of that, we’ve also seen Phoenix have interest in Simmons because they just need someone who could play point guard and be a true playmaker on that team. So with all that in mind, what we’d see is the Knicks could look or would look towards Shamut and could also look towards Amir Coffee. Now the Kings, they do give more of a clear playing time for Simmons. There’s been a lot of talk that Malik Monk is going to get moved off of this team as he’s no longer on the team that he signed with. It’s very different. I mean, Keegan Murray’s still there. Sabonis is still there, but things have changed a lot. So, I could see Malik Monk certainly getting traded pretty soon. And that would open up more time for Ben Simmons to come off the bench for this Sacramento Kings team and try to just give give more playmaking and depth to a team that right now with that lineup is trying to win games. I mean, as long as Lavine De Rose and Sabonis, as long as they’re there, they’re trying to win games. I don’t know how well it’s going to go, but they’re going to try to win. So, that’s something that does have to be really acknowledged. Obviously, they do have some young players in there. Their big man situation is interesting. Sabonis is not a terrible defender by any means. In fact, he was like somewhere in the running for defensive player of the year a year or two ago. But on top of that, you have Drew Eubanks who’s really your primary backup center who’s definitely had his issues. And then Dario Sarich can likely step in there. I mean, you do have a younger team. You have Maxine Rayode who’s going to be in there as one of your rookies. And you have obviously again, your bench is fairly young. Like at the end of the day, are you going to move forwards with this younger team or are you going to try to win? If you’re trying to win, then Ben Simmons makes sense. If you’re trying if you’re not trying to win, Ben Simmons doesn’t make sense. So that’s really what they have to sort of figure out there. It’s depending on what Scott Perry evidently does want to do going forwards for this team for his Sacramento Kings team. But Simmons himself is an interesting case. I mean, you look at all the awards he has. He’s a two-time alldefensive player. He was the rookie of the year. He was all NBA. He was the Steels champ. He was all rookie, of course, if he was, you know, the rookie of the year, and he’s a three-time all-star, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen that guy. I mean, ever since whatever the hell happened with that playoff series in 2021 against the Hawks, Ben Simmons has never bounced back. He’s put he put up five points, four and a half rebounds, and five and a half assists last season, shooting 52% from the field. Obviously, he doesn’t shoot threes. And his PR was below average for the first time. Like, really, there has been a serious situation with Ben that no one’s really been able to figure out. Is he having back issues? Is it all in his head? Is he just so deep in his head that he could actually be brought back out of and sort of mirror that guy who was on the 76ers who started his career as a guy was putting up 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and looked like a future perennial star. And that’s really the question you have to ask yourself. And you don’t need him to be that guy, but you need him to be an efficient player who helps you win games. And I mean on the Clippers once he got there, he finally got to LA where he wanted to be. It’s not like the numbers jumped off the page. In 16 and 12 minutes a game, he put up four rebounds, three assists, and three points. It wasn’t the greatest stat line ever. He shot 43% from the field. The defense, of course, has always been good, but it wasn’t as good as it once was. And you look at how Nick’s Reddit took to the Ben Simmons news, and this is what they had to say. It was a mixed bag. I mean, someone did mention, why not take a number one overall pick who’s not 30 years old for no money just because he played for Philly? You’re an idiot. But that’s not why that happened. I mean, someone said probably because he’s a five, five and five player, there are better players out there, which the response to that is sounds like a perfect statline for a guy off our bench given. Again, we do have Josh Hart who’s more than that. And also, again, shooting issues should be very much thought of. And someone said, well, if he stinks, who cares? The Knicks have their core. Well, they do want to have another bench player who helps. And Landre Shamat, we know will be an impact. So, it’s a risk. And Ben was playing 25 minutes a game when he got five, five, and five. So, you’re going to one one and one if he’s playing like 10 minutes. But honestly, I don’t hate the idea of Ben Simmons and I totally get where everyone’s coming from who’s in the Ben Simmons camp here. I totally understand why you would want Ben Simmons and I’m not disagreeing. It’s a risk and you have to make sure that risk is calculated enough. Are you willing to not have a dead eyee shooter? because you don’t have a guy who’s got that quick trigger release the way that we saw Shamat do where he shot 47% on corner threes and 53% in the playoffs. So from three. So I think you just go with Shamid. You know he can give you what you need. You know that you’re going to get great shooting and yeah you’re not going to get the defense or playmaking which the Knicks could certainly use more of. But they do have another ball handler in Jordan Clarkson. Now, if you need another ball handler, that’s something you could easily sort of go for at the deadline because it’s very rare you get a quick trigger shooter who’s on a very small contract. Like, you could hold off on that a little bit more when it comes to ball handling. You could find someone who can do it. Now, obviously, we saw one of the bigger ball handlers come off the market today with Chris Paul signing to do a last dance with the Clippers, but it also confirms Ben’s not going back there, but we also kind of knew that. So, it comes down to it. It’s coming down to the Knicks, the Kings, the Celtics, and the Suns. I don’t think it’s going to be the Suns, personally. I just have a feeling that it’s not going to be the Suns, but also it makes sense because the Suns are such a dumpster fire that having Ben Simmons go there would make some sense. I don’t think Ben Simmons is going to sign with the Knicks. Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen. I really do think the Knicks are going to end up signing Landry Sham or Amir Coffee, probably Shamut. That’s my guess on the matter. I don’t know where Simmons is going to go. The Celtics do make some sense. If he really does want some big minutes and to try to prove something, I think the Celtics do make the most sense for Ben Simmons. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments down below. Like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications. Have a great day and go next.

Chris Gallagher breaks down the New York Knicks free agency taking a huge turn with Ben Simmons.

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